ILOILO City – Two people who the authorities alleged were members of a “new drug group” in the city were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Monica, City Proper.
Lhorly Tesoro, 24, of the same village – a dancer at Don William’s Palace – and Ernst Nichol Legayada, 22, of Barangay Poblacion Ilawod, Lambunao, Iloilo were detained at Police Station 1.
Undercover officers of the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU) bought from them five sachets of shabu worth P6,500 at 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday.
Thirty-four more plastic packs of the same substance were seized from them. All the seized substances had a street value of P60,000, police said.
Tesoro and Legayada were part of a newly formed drug syndicate that caters to “mostly club dancers and street users” in the city, police said, citing intelligence information.
They started operating only last year so their scope of operation is limited, police added.
A certain “Muslim” via an errand man delivers the prohibited substances to Tesoro, who would then repack them, said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, RDEU chief.
“We have been targeting them since last month,” Bermejo added.
The suspects refused to reveal the real identity of “Muslim,” said the police.
Tesoro and Legayada face charges for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
